A Path to an Understanding of the Internet Use and Its Impact on the Academic Achievement of Social Science Students

The purpose of this study is to assess the use and impacts of internet on academic success of Social Science student studying in the public sector Universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Survey research method using a questionnaire was employed for data collection from a sample of 303 Social Science students spread over five public sector universities of KP. The response rate was 66% and the data was analyzed through SPSS 20.0 using descriptive and inferential statistics. The key findings show that male respondents reported being more experienced in internet use than female and about 84% of the students agreed with the importance of getting the internet use training. University graduates mainly used internet for Social Networking Sites (SNSs), e-mail and academic purposes and were highly satisfied with e-reference material, SNSs and audio/visual resources. Similarly, watching sports online and using shopping and trading websites online correlates with students’ lower Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). Furthermore, frequent use of indexes and abstracts, technical reports and presentations available on slide share correlates with graduates’ higher CGPA. Besides these the students reported that, the slow speed of internet, electricity shortage and restrictions on students from their parents to use internet due to the availability of immoral sites on internet were the problems in their internet use. This is the first study in KP, Pakistan that dealt with this important topic by covering a large number of social science students from large number of universities